Where of we cannot speak

摘要

A THEME of the age, at least in the develAoped world, is that people crave silence and can find none. The roar of traffic, the ceaseless beep of phones, digital announcements in buses and trains, tv sets blaring even in empty offices, are an endless battery and distraction. The human race is exhausting itself with noise and longs for its opposite-whether in the wilds, on the wide ocean or in some retreat dedicated to stillness and concentration. Alain Corbin, a history professor, writes from his refuge in the Sorbonne, and Erling , a Norwegian explorer, from his memories of the wastes of Antarctica, where both have tried to escape.